Vermithrax16

Probably worth an honest discussion in it's own thread.

Danny M at Nihonto Craft has a spectacular Sue Sa sword up for sale: http://www.nihontocraft.com/Sue_Sa_Katana.html A friend of mine held this sword when it was on exhibit a while ago. He was blown away.

Don't encourage him!!

Hope plenty of folks jumped in on this, I stopped myself at 3, there are SO many great things!

Great deals! I emailed you at your address, I would like to make 3 purchases. Thanks.

Thanks all!

I bought this tsuba a while ago. Now that I have a few more, what stands out to me is how thick this one is. It's a full 6mm and a bit more. Any ideas on school of this one or is it just a no name random piece?

I can't really make anything of it with these pictures. Buying a paper and signature with just these photos. EDIT: Missed the above photos somehow and more added below, so looking it over.

And if someone here owns this one, I would like to know: http://www.tetsugendo.com/kodogu/FT-177_Tanaka_Toshiharu.html

Great posts John and Paul. Thanks for the added depth. This makes more sense.

Off topic but worth another thread on what you said Ken and I have heard many times. I can see how something can be lost when it is not used, but it's not like swords were not made for 100-200 years, techniques lost, then sword making was re-started. Some family names go from long ago to late eras. I see this said a lot, but no real depth to the concept. Maybe steel that was used changed and thus could not replicate earlier forging works, but that's not really the same thing. Would love more discussion on this.

Congrats, I like a lot of these!

I know sword geometry and skill level in forging contributed to the sharpness angle, but how would one correct for polish state (condition of edge) on these tests? A fresh forged, fresh polished edged sword made around the test time may well cut better than a superior sword, in a somewhat less than ideal state edge wise. Just thinking out loud.

A LOT late but love the rabbit motif tsuba:

Yes, I agree BUT........ if I would shroud a new sword in one the wife may think it's pretty and I would get less hassle. Plans within plans.

No idea if these are real silk but they are very pretty and nice on the eyes. Graceful even, http://www.toukenkomachi.com/index_ja_okatanabukuro.html

Can't help with any useful info, but these are very cool.

Nice Pete! Would like to know more. Great looking mei as well.

Not for mere mortals, but could spend a long time looking just at the pictures. Stunning: http://www.sword-auction.jp/en/content/as17625-%E7%9F%AD%E5%88%80%E7%84%A1%E9%8A%98%E4%BC%9D%E5%89%87%E9%87%8D-%E7%AC%AC50%E5%9B%9E%E9%87%8D%E8%A6%81%E5%88%80%E5%89%A3-tanto-mumei-den-norishige-50th-nbthk-juyo-paper

Will look into it, thanks for taking a look at it.

Maybe it's bad, I am no expert in tsuba for sure (nor swords, but know more about those).

I got this one by accident a few weeks back on auction and it's not all that bad. Mokume works appeal to me, so I do tend to pick them out of listings. Width: 7.3cm Length: 7.5cm Thickness: 4mm This tsuba is very heavy, feels great in hand. Needs some TLC so will ask Stephen and Curran how best to clean it up. There is a mei, but I can't make it out and no help in the Translation section, so either unreadable or it says "I am fake" and no one wanted to tell me. Nice patterns, would clean up well I think.

Great update. Congrats on the finished project and thanks for showing the journey.

I LOVE silver fittings!

I threw a bid in on this piece on Japan Yahoo and was the only bidder. I like mokume tsuba, and I mean it was really low priced, so a bit surprised about that. It seems to have a mei, but I can't make it out. Folks here are pretty creative so I thought maybe someone would take a shot.